March 27, 2023, 5:30 pm Creative Intelligence Series Author Talk, Strickland Auditorium, Transylvania University
American Myth/American Reality 2022/2023 Theme
“MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME”
In her new book, “My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song,” historian Emily Bingham untangles and reassesses the legacy of this popular tune. From its origin as a blackface minstrel sensation penned by Stephen Foster to its role as Kentucky’s state song and Kentucky Derby theme song, “My Old Kentucky Home” has worked its way into the bloodstream of American life. Few tunes are better known. But how well known really? Bingham asks: How can a melody be so memorable, yet so formed by forgetting?
A powerful story of how, exactly, we fool ourselves into thinking the past is past
The Washington Post
Bingham asks readers to think critically about a song cherished by many and to consider the price of nostalgia.
Library Journal
Public talk followed by book signing — Monday, March 27, 5 p.m., Strickland Auditorium